Tuesday, September 10, 2013

I'm back from a hiatus-- as some of you know, I'm an archaeologist, so this past summer was spent on excavation in Japan. I had little-to-no internet access, so this blog was on a summer break. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given my tendencies, the weekend I returned from Japan, I headed straight to a LARP (no better cure for jet-lag), and that LARP, in particular, started me thinking about in-game teams. I wanted to throw some thoughts and questions to my readers.

Full disclosure: I love IG teams, especially when they're small and relatively close. They make me invested in the game. They give me something to do when there's downtime. They provide structure and support for my ideas. My best PC experiences have resulted from an extant team, while my worst ones have largely come from the absence of a team. All this being said, I also see the limitations of teams: they can, for instance, come across as cliquish and exclusive. They can make things difficult in terms of fairly hooking multiple people for modules.

What do you think about coming into game as a team? Or forming a team in-game? What are the advantages and disadvantages of teams? What have been your experiences with a team, and of what things are you cautious when entering game with a complete team?